Dress
by wolvesandgirls
Summary: Rose's eye is caught by a pretty girl who seems to spend a lot of her free time at Henrik's.


**From Femslash February prompts I'm taking on my** tumblr **!**  
 **Femslash February prompt 2: Clara/Rose + Rose works at Henrik's and Clara keeps coming back to shop there just to see her even though she definitely already has enough clothes!**

 **This was a very fun prompt that very much got away from me, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.**

 **Originally posted on** tumblr **, please feel free to reblog if you enjoyed!**

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Rose lazily hung some returned dresses back on the railings. Two more hours and she was done. Two more hours and it was chips and lager with Shareen and Keisha. Gossip and shower and jim-jams and bed.

She hung the last dress up and straightened the sleeves. Jesus. This was her life now. Shitty job. Shitty prospects. Shitty ex-boyfriend. She needed that girl time tonight more than she could possibly imagine.

She fixed the dresses so that they hung pristinely on the rack (she wasn't wasting time, she _wasn't_ wasting time). A flash of red in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she frowned.

Her. Again. The strange brunette who spent far too much time at Henrik's. She had heard the running jokes in the break room. Who was she? What was she planning? Surely she couldn't be planning a heist? Rose had tried to steer clear of the conversation as much as possible. The girl seemed harmless, and really, she was in no position to judge what anyone was doing with their life.

The brunette started messing with a jumper display, and Rose sighed as she began to head over to the display. She supposed there were worse ways to spend a Friday at your minimum-wage job than chatting with a cute girl.

"Can I help you?" Rose asked, as cheerily she could muster.

The small brunette jumped, dropping the thin sweater back on the display. She looked up at Rose and took a moment to catch her breath.

"Sorry," Rose said, "Didn't mean to frighten you."

"It's fine," the girl replied, slightly breathless. She looked up Rose, tucking her hair behind her ear and smiling warmly.

"Do you need me to find you a size, or…?" Rose trailed off.

The girl's smile remained as she crossed her arms and tried to lean casually against the shaky display table. She lost her balance and stood up quickly, her eyes never leaving Rose.

"Sorry, um, some girls messed up the display, and you looked quite busy, and I worked in a shop for a while. When I was seventeen. They always made me fold the jumpers, so I always just assumed I was the best." She shut her mouth, almost comically, and looked back down at the sweater display, clearly embarrassed.

"Alright," Rose said slowly, not entirely sure how to process what the brunette had blurted out. "Thanks, I guess."

She picked up the sweater and began folding it in the Henrik's-approved way. She looked back up and noticed that the girl was still standing by the display.

"Sorry," she said when she caught Rose looking. "Uh, professional interest."

"It's not that bad actually. Maybe your shop stole our manual," Rose grinned.

"Maybe. Maybe I was the best," She smiled, "I'm Clara by the way."

Clara stuck out her hand enthusiastically, and Rose smiled a little bewilderedly as she shook it.

"Rose," She replied, as she let go of Clara's hand a little reluctantly. She began to fiddle with the sweater again. "You're not after a job are you? Because management is downstairs."

"Oh no," Clara said quickly, gesturing to the display. "Just, looking at sweaters."

"Lucky," Rose looked up at her. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to work here anyway. It's mad. You should've been here a few weeks ago, this old guy just went mental when we didn't have the pants he wanted."

Clara laughed. She leant against the display again, carefully this time, and Rose found herself not even caring. A combination of hating this place, and the sweet laugh that made her skin feel warm. Rose tried to morph her face into something more professional, and a little less awestruck.

"Yeah, he was mad. Though last time I was here some kids got loose and almost knocked down a perfume display. A guard stopped them though. The nice-looking one, with the glasses."

"Derek?" Rose asked, confused. How often was this girl here?

"Derek, right. I mean, I'm studying to be a teacher, but god, it even made me think twice."

"You're here a lot," Rose mentioned, a little enamoured by this clearly crazy woman. "I mean, I guess I've seen you around -"

"Really?" Clara interrupted, her voice a little high. "Maybe. I guess. I mean, I live in a flat share with four other girls, so, lots of birthdays."

"I was going to say, you must own a lot of sweaters," Rose smiled, Oh god, was she _flirting_ with crazy Clara?

"No," she sighed, before looking at Rose very sincerely. "Plenty of cardigans though."

Rose laughed, trying her best to hide the blush that she could feel spreading across her cheeks.

"And I've never been to a store with such excellent customer service," Clara smiled wryly, crossing her arms across her chest. Oh god, Clara was flirting back. This crazy, mad, adorable woman was flirting with her.

Rose was suddenly more than ready for her shift to end, if only because she'd be able to have that drink.

It suddenly crossed her mind that she should invite Clara. She was doing this, wasn't she? Was she? How?

She tried to ignore the lingering silence that was settling between them as she raked her brain for the smoothest way to ask Clara out. As she tried to find words that sounded a lot more eloquent than "you, me, drinks" she caught sight of her manager stalking across the floor.

"Shit," she muttered, straightening up. A look of confusion crossed Clara's face as she stood up as well.

"Did I say -" she started, but Rose quickly interrupted her.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Rose asked loudly. Clara looked over her shoulder, seeing the stern manager glaring at them. She turned back and raised an eyebrow, a sly grin on her lips.

Rose could have just melted into the floor.

"I need…" and she made a show of thinking, head rolling back. Her eyes landed on a rack of fancy, strappy dresses, her grin filthy. Rose's heart skipped a beat.

Suddenly, a chirping sound echoed from Clara's bag. Clara rolled her eyes as she reached for her phone, her face falling slightly as she read the message.

"I need to go," Clara said quietly. She dropped the phone back in her bag, burying her hands deep into her pockets.

Rose bit her lip, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"'S'fine. Whatever you need to do," Rose said cheerily, trying to mask her disappointment. She readjusted the sweater on top of the pile, making sure there were no creases in the wool and swallowed down whatever it was that was making its way up her body as she smiled tightly.

Clara looked at her apologetically as she readjusted her bag on her shoulder.

"See ya," Clara said quietly, as she turned and walked away.

Rose leant against the display as she watched Clara threw one last sad smile over her shoulder as she left.

"Thanks," the new girl drolled as Rose took her place in the change rooms. She sat down in her chair and watched as the new girl strolled away, almost effortlessly.

Geez, maybe Keisha was right. Maybe she was outgrowing the place. And after they cut half her bloody shifts.

Rose closed her eyes and leant her head back as she reluctantly thought back to last week with Clara. It wasn't hard, seeing as the entire exchange had been playing on a constant loop in her head every second of the day. Rose was an idiot, not getting her number. Even Shareen had given her a pitying look when she begrudgingly relayed the events at their girls night.

She stood up and began to organize some papers that the new girl had left on the desk. She'd do well learning the girl's name, though knowing her recent luck, it'd probably be something like _Karla_ or _Brunette_ or _Big Brown Eyes_ or some other new-age hippy name that'd remind Rose that she was an idiot for not getting Clara's number.

 _Her phone was in her hand_ , Rose suddenly remembered, and she sank back into the chair, burying her face in her hands.

"Can you help me with this zip?" a familiar voice chirped out from behind her.

Rose perked up, as she whipped her head around to find the voice.

"Clara," Rose called out, walking up to her.

Clara's head snapped up, a wide grin taking over her entire face.

"You remembered me," she teased, walking out of the changing cubicle, the dress she was trying on hanging awkwardly on her frame.

"I mean," Clara said, flustered, "I haven't seen you in ages."

"I had a few shifts cut after I was- Well, after that whole thing," Rose admitted. "Have you been here lookin' for me?"

Clara ignored her question and smiled as she turned around and looked at herself in the mirror. Her reflection looked up at Rose, and she pointed to the zipper.

"I did need help," Clara pointed to the back of the dress.

"Right," Rose replied, reaching to pull the fabric together. She pulled the zip up Clara's back slowly, trying to not snag the fabric, trying desperately not to just drag her fingertips along her skin.

She secured the zip at the top, and her fingers brushed along the small expanse of skin and she heard Clara's breath hitch. Rose's heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest, the speed it was beating, and she stepped back from Clara.

Rose could feel her cheeks burning and tried to distract herself with a clothes hanger. She caught a glimpse of Clara's reflection and had to breathe deeply to stop herself from going into cardiac arrest. It should be illegal for dresses to look like that on anyone, let alone someone as gorgeous as Clara.

"I don't know," Clara said, tugging at the fabric that was clinging to every curve of her body.

"Are you kidding? You look-" Rose stopped. Clara looked up at her, eyes unbelievably wide.

"I mean," she tried to play it cool, "I'd kill to have a dress look like that on me."

"I think you'd look lovely in this dress," Clara said earnestly. She turned towards Rose and leant back against the wall. "I think you always look lovely."

"You're mad." Rose rolled her eyes. "Besides, you've only seen me a couple of times at the store."

"More than a couple," Clara smiled, standing up. She pushed out her chest a little, and Rose would've bet every penny to her name that she was doing it on purpose.

"You never asked me why I needed a dress," Clara raised her eyebrows, taking a step towards Rose, closing the gap between them.

Rose was just about ready to die.

Breathing, breathing, yes, breathing was good. She took a step back and crouched down to pick up a loose tag from the floor.

"So, what do you need the dress for anyway?" Rose asked, trying to sound as casual as possible, although failing miserably if the wobble in her voice was as audible to Clara as it was to her.

"I have a date," Clara chirped, "A first date."

Rose's heart stopped. Yep, good thing she was down in the floor, where she could just melt into a puddle of jealousy. She knew she should've asked Clara for her number last week. God, Shareen was going to murder her when she found out.

"Lucky guy," she said dismissively, sniffing as she stood up and shoved the tag in her pocket.

"Girl," Clara corrected matter-of-factly. She glanced up at Rose quickly before turning back and looking at herself in the mirror.

"Oh, my mistake," Rose said, as she tried to swallow her heart back down into her chest.

"I mean, I haven't asked her yet, but it's on my to-do list," Clara lifted her hair up off of the back of her neck. "Could you unzip me?"

Rose tried to steady her shaking hands as she fiddled with the tiny clasp that held the dress together, eventually dragging the zip down and letting the dress droop on Clara's frame, exposing a tiny bit of lacy bra.

Clara smiled at Rose as she stepped back into the changing cubicle, pulling the curtain closed.

"You seem pretty confident she'll say yes. Buying a dress and all."

"I have a feeling she'll say yes," Clara replied, her voice slightly muffled by the curtain.

Rose bit her lip as she listened to Clara shuffle back into her own clothes, the zip of the dress being hung back on its hanger cutting through the minutiae of Rose's thoughts.

"You never answered my question," Rose said, shoving her hands deep in her pockets.

Clara poked her head out from behind the curtain and raised an eyebrow.

"You were here looking for me."

"I'm always looking for you when I'm here," Clara stepped out from the changing cubicle, the dress hanging in her hands. She looked down shyly at her feet before taking a breath and meeting Rose's eyes. "I think I fancy you, Rose."

"Right," Rose replied woodenly. Clara looked up at her expectantly, and god, Rose could drown in those eyes of hers.

She stepped forward, not even thinking as she closed the gap between them and pressed her lips sweetly to Clara's. Rose felt Clara's hands brush against her cheek, and was suddenly aware of how quickly her heart was beating.

She pulled away, slightly worried Clara would notice her racing heart or sweaty palms if she continued kissing her for a moment longer. She watched, dazed, as Clara's eyes fluttered open and she caught her breath.

"Wow," Clara sighed, her hands resting on Rose's waist.

"Y-yeah," Rose stuttered out. She pressed her hand to her mouth to stop herself from giggling, but Clara batted it away and pressed another kiss to her lips, and Rose was swept up again in how warm she felt when Clara was holding her like this.

Clara pulled away slowly, her breath tickling Rose's lips. She brushed a piece of blonde hair out of Rose's face and smiled wryly at her.

"What time do you finish work?" Clara asked as she reached into her bag to pull out a pen. She pulled up Rose's sleeves and scribbled her phone number onto her arm.

"Didn't you have a date tonight?" Rose asked, careful not to smudge them as she pulled her sleeve down.

"I did, didn't I?" Clara raised an eyebrow. Oh, she was in love with that bloody eyebrow.

"How are you going to break it to her?"

Clara pressed a kiss to Rose's cheek.

"I think she'll understand."


End file.
